Blind Corner

Part Three: I See Your Face Wherever I Go

            It’s been...a month since they vanished. Michael thought as he settled into his apartment, closing the door behind him. It felt good to own an apartment again, to be able to actually leave work whenever he wanted and sleep in a real bed. He set his laptop bag on the table and fell into a chair in the living room. It was hard to go back to the real world, and it was even harder to explain to his family why he had vanished for so long, but after some yelling they could do nothing but embrace him, happy to see him after so long. Now he had a place of his own with his family on speed dial. That was something he thought he’d never do again.

            His work days were now like those of a normal person. He went to work at a certain time, and he left at a certain time, he got paid now, and now he didn’t want to bash his head into a mainframe of a computer. He could go out at any time to be in the presence of other human beings. However, this did not ease all of his loneliness. There was a lingering hole that no one's company seemed to fill. He found himself up at odd hours of the night with cravings for coffee and donuts. He could ease those cravings on his own now, but even that did not make the feeling go away. He could only guess why.

            She was no where to be found.

            When she was missing, Michael thought that he would go insane from wanting to have her near him again. When they met again, it felt like the void might not be permanent. Now she was gone again, and they did not even know if she was alive. If she was, she was not alone; Amon was with her, but this time he did not think she was coming back. She was gone this time, gone for good.

            Michael sighed and stood up, trying to repel thoughts of her. She seemed to be plaguing his mind; she infected him, and now he could not get rid of her even if he wanted to. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to. Her memory seemed comforting, and the fact that he somehow knew that she felt something for him too almost made holding onto her memory worth it, even if it was a futile attempt.

            His phone rang and he almost jumped out of his skin. He was still not entirely used to his own ring tone on the new cell that was given to him. Clicking the "On" button, he held the phone to his ear.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey, Michael, it’s Sakaki,” the all too familiar voice said into his ear. Michael felt a small smile form on his lips. Since the collapse of the Factory the STN-J simply went under the complete jurisdiction of Solomon. Things more or less returned to normal with a few minor changes here and there. The Chief got a promotion and was now the head of the headquarters, though he stayed as uptight and crazy as ever. The hunts continued, without the use of the orbo, but they made sure that they remained one of the few institutions that did not kill the witches they hunted. It took some additional training on the part of Sakaki, Karasuma and Dojima to learn how and where to shoot to disable a person but not seriously wound them. So far nothing had gone terribly wrong and he was thankful for that. The new hunter they sent ended up leaving after a few short weeks. She didn’t like the way they did things and thus asked for a transfer. No one was entirely sad to see her go.

            “Hey, what’s up Sakaki?” Michael asked. He knew already it was nothing good or he wouldn’t be calling at 11:45 at night.

            “We have a situation that we need your help on. Karasuma is already here and we need to break into this building ASAP,” Sakaki replied. Michael fought back a yawn.

            “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Send me the coordinates of the place.”

            “See you then.” And with that the line went dead. At this point, Michael was used to this sort of thing. It was a much different lifestyle compared to being in the office at all times. Gathering his things once again open his apartment door and looked over his shoulder as he shut the door quietly behind him. He smiled to himself when he glanced at his watch. Almost midnight on a Wednesday and he was off to work. Whoever said having a normal sleep schedule was a good thing?

~~~~~

            Michael rolled up to the location ten minutes later at exactly midnight. Paying the cab driver for his fee, he got out of the car and looked around. The night was cold, and he instantly regretted not bringing a heavier jacket.

            “Michael, over here,” a voice called out to him. Michael turned to see Sakaki standing near his parked motorcycle and what looked to be Karasuma’s car, gesturing for him to come over. Sakaki seemed slightly different whenever they were on hunts. He seemed to be embracing the fact that he could never be as serious as Karasuma or Amon and decided to take his role as a burden, at least at times, with pride.

            “Sakaki, we’re here for a reason, stop waving your arms around in the air like you’re meeting a date.” Another voice said pushing Sakaki’s raised arm down. It was Karasuma, and she smiled at Michael from behind her car. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” Sakaki shook his arm free and mumbled something inaudible. Readjusting his bag over his shoulder, Michael walked over and joined his co-workers.

            “So what’s the big rush?” he asked, sitting down on the ground, his back to Karasuma’s car. “Is it the witch that’s been murdering young woman because they're more beautiful than her?” He looked up at his co-workers as he pulled his laptop out of the bag and placed it on the ground in front of him. Neither of them responded. “Is it the man that only kills those who laughed at him when he was in grade school?” Again, nothing but silence followed. Michael found himself slightly curious as to why they were not saying anything. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you two giving me any details?”

            “This mission is...a little different from the ones that we’ve been doing lately. It’s not even officially a mission in the eyes of the STN-J,” Karasuma explained carefully. She was avoiding the subject and it was painfully obvious.

            “There’s nothing wrong with a little off-duty work. Why won’t you guys tell me what’s going on?” he asked. Karasuma and Sakaki glanced at each other and seemed to be having some sort of mental debate as to who was going to break this news to him. The longer the silence lingered the more uneasy Michael began to feel.

            “We received an anonymous tip...” Karasuma started, “that someone resembling Robin was seen around this house for the past three days.”

            Michael froze and just started at the two of them, completely flabbergasted. Robin? She was seen here? Alive? He couldn’t find it within himself to believe it at first. Was she still in hiding? Did she believe that she was still being hunted and that’s why she hid? None of it made sense. Thoughts ran through his head like raging river and he was unable to make any sense of any of it.

            “But it’s not definite. No one knows if it’s really her or not,” Sakaki said quickly, as if to bring Michael back to reality.

            “Right, of course, we need to be logical here,” he responded too quickly. “What kind of security does this place have?”

            “Just a basic security system, the house is about a block down the street,” Karasuma responded.

            “Yeah, that might be a little suspicious have our cars waiting outside of the house, and the last thing we need is someone calling the cops on us. Kosaka would have a fit if he found out we were doing this alone,” Sakaki added. No one bothered to reply; they all knew it was true.

            It took Michael exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds to bring down the security of the house. It was a fairly basic system, but something about it was very off. At the very end it was as if someone was trying very hard to keep someone out. The security was far too high for a normal residential home. Michael couldn’t help but wonder why Robin would put up such high defenses. As far as they all knew her name was clear and she had no reason to hide. If it is you Robin...why didn’t you come and see me? Michael wondered silently as he brought down the last of the security system.

            “It’s down,” he stated, closing his laptop with a click. He placed the machine into its bag. Karasuma nodded and offered him a hand.

            “Let’s go,” she stated firmly, and the three of them started quietly down the street. Michael’s mind seemed to, much against his will, leave him again. The thought that she might be so close, within his reach even, made everything else in the world seem unimportant. Michael looked up, and his eyes fell on the house. It was large, almost a mansion surrounded by tall gates with sharp spikes. The lawn looked neglected, with weeds that wrapped themselves along the gate and grass that could easily come up to their knees. The house itself seemed to loom over them like something out of a classic horror movie.

            “Spooky,” Sakaki said simply, examining the gate. “It looks like this is where the security starts, are you sure it’s down?”

            Michael nodded. “Positive, whoever is in here is temporarily locked out of their own system.”

Sakaki raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t that a little extreme?”

            Michael didn’t respond; he just looked up at the house. Are you really in there, Robin?

            “Let’s get going. We don’t have all night,” Karasuma said, pushing the rusty gate open. No alarm went off, and the three of them slipped into the grounds. The air around them seemed to rustle with their every move. Silently, they stepped onto the stairs and made their way to the front door.

            “Should we knock?” Sakaki asked, looking over his shoulder at Karasuma. She seemed very uneasy. “Something wrong, Miho?”

She shivered. “I’m not sure yet, but something seems off,” she said quietly.

“Do you think Robin is in trouble?” Michael asked, adjusting his glasses and peering in the windows.

            “If it’s really her in there,” Karasuma whispered. She reached into her jacket and pulled out her weapon. “Either way, there’s something in there and we need to find out what it is.”

            “Right,” Sakaki nodded to the woman before him and pushed the door open with ease. It wasn’t closed, let alone locked. Michael felt a lump form in the pit of his stomach. The security to get beyond the gate was tough yet the door was not even closed.

            The house was much like the outside: obviously neglected. A layer of dust seemed to cover everything, but the floor and everything smelled stale and old. There was little furniture in the house, but the few remaining objects looked positively ancient.

            “This place looks abandoned. Could she really be here?” Sakaki commented, running his finger along a table. It came away covered in dust.

            “I honestly don’t know.” Michael said quietly.

            “Let’s go look around, maybe we’ll find something. Sakaki,” Karasuma stated firmly.

            “Yeah?”

            “Get your weapon and keep it close.” And with those words of wisdom they ventured into the house. The ground floor seemed completely untouched, as if someone hadn’t bothered to even explore the entire house. In the kitchen they found old canned food that dated back over twenty years and a few pieces of silverware, but nothing of interest. The living room had a single book that held a pressed rose between its pages that looked like it had not been opened since the rose was originally placed there. Each room they explored yielded no indication of life within the walls of the house.

            “Remember when we first walked in,” Michael said as they made their way toward the front of the house again. “It looked like someone just walked straight from the door to the stairs. Maybe she’s upstairs in hiding.”

            “If she heard us, wouldn’t she have come down by now?” Karasuma observed, brushing some of the dust off of her shoulders.

            “Miho has a point, Michael,” Sakaki replied, his eyes looking up the stairs.

            “Maybe she’s just afraid that we’re here to hunt her,” Michael commented as they made their way to the long staircase,

            “Hunt her for what? As far as we know she hasn’t done anything wrong,” Karasuma pointed out as they made their way up the stairs. An uneasy silence followed as they made their way up the stairs. As they reached the top, they were looking down a long hallway lined with rooms. Each of the doors was shut, and there was a small window at the end of the hallway.

            “I feel like I’m in a horror movie,” Sakaki quipped. “Let’s start looking in these rooms.” He started down the hallway.

            “Keep your guard up,” Karasuma stated harshly.

            “Yes, Miho.” And with that Sakaki started down the hallway. Karasuma and Michael looked at each other as they began to explore the rooms as well. Michael adjusted his bag over his shoulder and sighed. Maybe she isn’t here after all...maybe someone was playing a joke or something. He opened the first door and looked inside. The room was empty except for a single metal bed that sat in the middle of the room. He could swear he could see the dust from the doorway and closed the door behind him. Michael sighed heavily and looked down the hallway. Sakaki and Karasuma were already halfway down the hallway. They were arguing about something as they opened door after door. Michael sighed and began to stroll down the hallway. This is a waste of time. No one’s here.

            It was then that he heard it. Stopping dead in his tracks Michael looked at the door. He was sure of it: Behind those doors he heard movement, the sound of a woman’s shoes on the wooden floor. Everything around him seemed to come to a halt. Looking ahead, he saw that Karasuma and Sakaki had not heard it. They were still going about their business as if nothing had happened at all. Michael swallowed. Is that you? Are you in there? Taking a deep breath, he reached for the door and pulled it open.

            For a moment, Michael was sure all of time had come to a complete halt. There she was, standing near the window of the gloomy room. Her hair was wrapped in the black ribbons just as always, her black dress neatly pressed and her arms were folded tightly in front of her chest as if she wad cold. She turned around and looked at him, looking equally surprised.

            “Michael? Is that you?” she asked, and he was sure it was her now. He’d know her voice anywhere. Before he could stop himself, Michael found himself holding her to him.

            “I can’t believe it’s you. I thought I’d never see you again,” he whispered, holding her tightly. She wrapped her arms carefully around him.

            “Michael...I’m sorry that I’ve been away for so long,” her voice was soft, kind, and he could feel that she was sorry, she was so sorry. “I’m also sorry about something else.” He pulled away and looked down at her.

            “What is it, Robin?”

            “I’m sorry...that you and your little friends are so easy to fool.” She said slyly as her entire body temperature began to rise very quickly. Michael pulled away and looked at his hands; they were burned.

            “Robin what are you–?” She gave him no time to finish. An unseen force knocked the air out of Michael and sent him off his feet, through the doorway, and into the wall, hard. Stars from the night sky danced in front of his eyes, and he blinked a few times to make them go away. He could vaguely hear Karasuma and Sakaki asking for him, asking what was wrong and rushing toward him. Michael was not paying attention to them. All he could see was Robin walking slowly toward him with a smile on her lips that seemed so unfamiliar.

            “Michael, are you all–?” Karasuma cut herself up as she looked up at the girl standing before them. “Robin?” With a swift movement of her hand, Karasuma’s weapon was on the ground. There was a deep cut on his colleague's hand now, blood dripping from the wound. “Robin what are you–?” Karasuma slammed into the wall and slid down to the ground, wincing in pain.

            “Now, now Miho, you stay down,” Robin said sternly, “You too Sakaki.”

            Sakaki hit the ground and slid a few feet away from them, his gun lying inches away from his now lifeless hand.

            “No heroics for you tonight," Robin said.

            Karasuma winced and held her bleeding hand to her chest. “Who are you? You can’t be Robin,” she stated firmly.

            The girl began to laugh and the image of their friend melted away in front of their eyes. The woman that stood in front of them was not Robin. Her hair was long and black, down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were as gray as storm clouds, and she wore a simple black dress.

            “I never imagined that the STN-J would be so easy to corner,” she said mockingly. “All I needed to do was pose as your little friend and you came running with no back up like the fools you are.”

            “Why are you doing this?” Karasuma asked.

            The woman smiled. “Because there is no way I am going to let the likes of you catch me,” she responded, and put her hand out in front of them. Michael felt cold hands close around his neck and hold him against the wall. He glanced over at Karasuma and saw that she must have been feeling the same thing. He recognized this witch. Her name was Ruby, age and birth place unknown. She was supposed to be out of the country right now so her hunt was placed on hold. No doubt it was all part of her plan to corner them.

            She smiled down at them. “Since neither of you are going anywhere I think I’ll take care of your unconscious friend over there first. I plan on leaving each of your bodies in various different places to serve as a warning, a warning that we are not going to lay down and let you take us in.” Keeping a hand out to them, she began to walk backwards toward Sakaki. Using her power, she moved him onto his back. Kneeling down, she placed her other hand over his neck. She was going to strangle him to death. Melting back into Robin’s form she said something about seeing their friend before they died would be more amusing.

            Michael struggled to move as silently as he could. She did not bother to check his computer bag for anything that could be used as a weapon. It was not something that he normally did. The burned skin on his hands protested fiercely as he opened the bag and his fingers felt the cold metal of his gun. Sakaki was struggling against her now, though he was beginning to weaken, the skin on his face developing a blue tint as he struggled for air. Karasuma was screaming at Ruby, begging her to stop and struggling against the power that held her firmly in place. Clutching the gun tightly, he felt the skin on his hands break open and begin to bleed. Moving swiftly, Michael aimed the gun at Ruby’s mid back and fired.

            The power around his neck loosened and Michael was on his feet, pointing the gun at the witch that so closely resembled his Robin. Blood dripped from his hands. She turned and looked at him, her eyes wide, those eyes he loved so much. He didn’t give her a chance to captivate him though, he fired again, this time at her right shoulder. She stumbled back a few steps and fell to the ground near Sakaki, not moving. Michael dropped the gun and fell to his knees. Karasuma was on her feet and rushed over to Sakaki, who was still struggling to breath. No one said a word, Karasuma simply helped Sakaki stand. Michael struggled to his feet, and they left Ruby on the floor of the house. Words were not needed; they were not planning on filing a report on this.

~~~~~

            Michael wandered the streets of downtime three days later. His hands were carefully bandaged, and he could not use his computer easily for at least a week now. Kosaka had a fit when he found out about their injuries, but they simply said they were jumped after meeting at Harry’s for a drink and something to eat. Kosaka didn’t believe them, but dropped the subject and gave them a few days off. Michael heaved a sigh as he made his way through the crowds, occasionally looking up to make sure he didn’t hit any objects that were stationary, like the traffic pole he had already hit dead on earlier that day. Since the incident, Michael was seeing Robin everywhere now, but he ignored most of them, now completely sure that they were not her.

            His heart ached as the image of shooting her rolled over in his mind. He was unable to forget that moment even if it wasn't really her that he'd shot. I had no hesitation when I shot her. And for that he could not forgive himself. He stopped and watched the passing people. For a moment, he thought he saw her across the street. He blinked once, and she was gone. It’s like she won’t ever leave me alone. It’s like I can’t forget her even if I wanted to. He paused and looked at the concrete a small smile forming on his lips. I don’t want to forget her and I never will. I promised myself I’d see you again and I will. We’ll find each other Robin. Someday, we’ll find each other.

-10/02/05